


you ain't lived if you got no regrets

by faeriemeliorn (pureblood_whovian)



Series: there's more than one of everything [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - The Mummy Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Happy but slightly open ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, ambiguous time period, ie it's meant to be the 1920s like the film but i have done no work to set that up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-13 02:06:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16008044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pureblood_whovian/pseuds/faeriemeliorn
Summary: “Any last requests, warlock?” Magnus grimaces as the guard pulls the rough noose painfully tighter. He refuses to die like this – Raphael will spend an eternity laughing about how angry mundanes were the ones to finally off the 'brilliant' Magnus Bane. It’s just embarrassing.“Yeah, actually.” The guard stops, surprised he’s getting an answer. “Loosen the knot and let me go."Magnus agreed to a simple, harmless expedition to the City of the Dead wanting only to find some precious artefacts and maybe get some revenge on an old rival in the process. He gets a lot more than he signed up for when an ancient evil is accidentally released - an evil that's incredibly powerful, near impossible to defeat and has a certain history with Magnus.





	1. PART ONE: THE AWAKENING

**Author's Note:**

> this is a celebratory fic! celebration for myself since i got into the uni i wanted and i decided to reward myself with another au (it was this or a starudust au but netflix only had the mummy, so). this is genuinely the only fic i have ever written without the threat of exams or results looming over my head and it was actually enjoyable? to write? there was no feeling guilty? must try it again sometime. 
> 
> wrt to concepts like wards, magic, greater demons etc.. i have mixed around 4 different canons (what the book wiki says about them, the show, the mummy film and my own personal fanon shoved in to make the story work) so just roll with it i guess. 
> 
> this is actually all finished!! (im never posting a true wip i cannot commit like that i lose interest) i just have to finish surface level editing on parts 2 and 3 but it should all be up by the end of the week. ~the suspense~
> 
> title is from [ this song!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XefiWRskYk4) i basically listened to that on repeat whilst writing.

Magnus is woken up by the sound of clanging.

He groans into his pillow. He hates expeditions. Why did he agree to this again?

After what he feels is an appropriate amount of wallowing, Magnus decides he does actually have to leave the bed. He sits up.

It still feels strange to him, getting ready without magic. His inability to use magic for the most mundane of activities grates against his nerves. But the wards around ancient places are brutal and Magnus isn’t going to risk death to save the two minutes it takes to make a bed manually.

He emerges from his tent, the Egyptian sun beating down relentlessly.

The ruins of the old city of Hamunaptra are a short walk from the campsite. Magnus strolls at a fairly leisurely pace – despite the loud clanging noises, most of the camp sleeps on, so there’s no hurry.

As he gets closer, he can start to make out the Lightwood siblings. He can’t see them very well but he’s almost certain they’re bickering, as always. It’s very endearing and Magnus often finds himself wondering how the Maryse and Robert Lightwood he once encountered ever raised people like them.

The nearer Magnus gets, the more of their conversation he can catch. Rather alarmingly, he hears Izzy warn “If you chicken out I will kill you,” as he approaches. 

“Good morning, Lightwoods.”

“Good morning, Magnus,” says Izzy, happily, turning to face him. Her hair is pulled back in a high ponytail. “Did you sleep okay? Last I saw you had your face in that book again.”

“Thank you for mentioning that Isabelle,” says Magnus, gracefully, though he's a little confused how that can be true when he woke up not at his desk, but comfortably on his bed under a blanket. “I slept fine. Anything new happen?” 

“Nothing,” she sighs. She glances up at her brother and brightens up. “But we'll get there eventually. Oh, would you look at that, I must go and help Luke with that thing right now!” She leaves with a threatening eyebrow raise at Alec and a wink at Magnus. Funny, Magnus was under the impression Luke was still asleep. 

“Here,” says Alec abruptly, after a few moments of silence. He holds out a small, black bag. “This is for you.” 

“Me?” Magnus takes the bag, throwing it aside once he’s removed the case inside. He opens it up to see a set of tools, recognising the pretentious engravings on them. “Is this -” 

“Lorenzo's?” Alec smirks a little. “I figured he has enough of them that he won't miss this one.” 

Magnus traces a finger over the tools. In all honesty, they look a little ugly and it’s stupid but – when’s the last time someone gave him a proper gift? He can’t really remember.

“Thank you, Alexander,” he says, voice soft and quiet.

“You’re welcome,” says Alec, equally quiet. Somehow, they’ve moved closer to each other. Magnus opens his mouth and catches Alec’s gaze flicker down to his lips.

A shout from across the campsite jolts them both. Alec blinks rapidly, then takes a step back. “I should,” he says, gesturing behind him. “I should go and help the others.”

Magnus nods. He’s not disappointed, he tells himself. “Of course.”

Alec flees.

Magnus looks back down at the tools in his hands and smiles to himself. Life could be worse.

\---

Almost a month ago, guards in Cairo push Magnus roughly to his knees. He blinks up blearily into the light to identify his hero, his saviour, his one and only -

“Oh, it's you.” 

Luke raises his eyebrows. “You've looked better, Magnus.” 

“Don't I know it?” says Magnus, somewhat irritably. Usually he's very happy to see Luke, but prison does things to a man. Especially prisons that know of magic, so he can't even escape by himself. Magic inhibiting chains really sour a man’s mood.

Speaking of sour moods, “Why isn't Ragnor here?” Ragnor has been extracting Magnus from ridiculous situations of his own making with an unhealthy amount of eye-rolling for hundreds of years. Usually, Magnus brews him excellent tea as a thank you. 

"He's presenting some research at the Spiral Labyrinth." Luke crouches down so they’re eye to eye. "I volunteered to come collect you." 

"You volunteered? Is there a reason you want to punish yourself?" 

"There are worse things. I was in the country anyway. Listen, I have a job for you." 

"Oh?" 

"You've been to Hamunaptra?" Luke doesn't wait for a response. "I have a client who wants something from there."

Magnus has been, many years ago. He’d made the mistake of agreeing to work with Lorenzo Rey, the absolute ass, for a client that was looking for some ancient text about Azazael. After a serious of unfortunate events, they found themselves in Hamunaptra, the infamous lost City of the Dead, entirely by accident. Lorenzo had kindly commandeered the only remaining camel and left Magnus behind in the dust.

Since Magnus didn’t have the first clue where the ward line was, portals were out of the question and the journey back to civilisation had been torturously long. He’d spent more of it than he’d care to admit plotting revenge.  

"Hamunaptra? The City of the Dead, that Hamunaptra? What do they want from there, a dead body?" 

Luke hesitates, just for a fraction of a second, but enough to make Magnus suspicious. "He hasn't specified," he admits. 

Magnus blinks. "So, we're supposed to go all the way to the City of the Dead to find.... something. I think I’ll pass." He's always been up for a challenge, but he usually knows what the challenge is. 

Luke tilts his head. "Are you sure? There’s another expedition force trying to get there too. Fully funded by the government. There must be something pretty big there if they're willing to do that." 

"Right," says Magnus, skeptically. 

"The client pays us half of the money before the retrieval," says Luke. He goes in for the kill with "And it's Lorenzo Rey who is leading the other team." 

Well. There’s no question about going now. Magnus is too old to pretend he’s not this petty.  

"Okay. I suppose I don’t have anything better to do." Luke grins. "Don't get cocky yet, Garroway. You still have to get me out of here." 

"How hard can that be?" 

As it turns out, pretty hard.

“Any last requests, warlock?” Magnus grimaces as the guard pulls the rough noose painfully tighter. He refuses to die like this – Raphael will spend an eternity laughing about how angry mundanes were the ones to finally off the 'brilliant' Magnus Bane. It’s just embarrassing. 

“Yeah, actually.” The guard stops, surprised he’s getting an answer. “Loosen the knot and let me go." 

Confused, the guard looks over to his boss. Luke is still trying, and failing, to bargain. The boss raises a hand and Magnus braces himself.

Nothing happens. The boss’s hand is still hanging mid-air, but he finally looks interested in what Luke is saying. He eyes Luke up and down and then, _finally_ , they shake hands.

“Let him go!”

The guard grumbles but does as ordered. Magnus smiles brightly at him. He’s suddenly in a wonderful mood.

\---

When he’s once again a free man, Magnus sends off a fire message to Catarina and hopes she’s up for an adventure. She’s always been the best with ancient Purgatic, even if she usually prefers to utilise her healing talents day to day.

“So, who else do you have?” he asks Luke, as they wander through the marketplace.

Luke hesitates again before answering. It occurs to Magnus that his impulsiveness is really going to fuck him over some day. “Who is it?” he asks, more warily this time.

“I’ve checked them out,” says Luke. It doesn’t reassure Magnus. “Just remember that, okay?”

Luke continues walking. Magnus follows him again but with substantially less enthusiasm and a lot more trepidation.

They turn a corner to find a less busy area of the place. Magnus glances around and sees -

“You hired Shadowhunters,” says Magnus, flatly. There’s two, a tall man and a shorter woman, dark haired. Perhaps their runes are glamoured for the mundanes, but Magnus can see right through that.

“I checked them out!”

Magnus arches an eyebrow. “Didn’t you also ‘check out’ the Seelie that almost murdered you in that shabby bar in Manhattan?”

“That was a one off.”

“What about that time in--”

“Funny how the guy whose execution was scheduled for lunch is trying to lecture me about poor life decisions,” says Luke, dryly. “Look, they’re good at what they do. And since you can’t use magic to solve all our problems whilst we’re there we could use the extra hands.”

Magnus purses his lips. “ _Fine_. But if I hear _one thing_ about the angel Raziel’s precious edict-”

“You won’t. Alec, Izzy! Over here!”

The two Shadowhunters – Alec and Izzy – make their way over. As they get closer, Magnus starts mentally running through Shadowhunter families he knows are still around – the Herondales are far too snobbish for exploring, the Branwells are too bookish.

Then they get closer, and Magnus gets a bit distracted. This Alec is – he’s hot. 

“Who are _you_?” he mutters to himself quietly, but clearly not quietly enough given how Luke rolls his eyes beside him. Magnus is not going to apologise for having working eyes and a healthy appreciation for attractive people. 

“This is the guy I was telling you about,” says Luke to the two instead of a greeting. “Magnus Bane.”

Magnus holds out a hand. “A pleasure.”

Izzy is the one who takes it. “The feeling is mutual. Izzy Lightwood, and this one is my brother Alec.”

It’s testament to how distracted Magnus really is given that he doesn’t immediately have a heart attack over ‘Lightwood’. He directs a charming smile at Alec. “How lovely.”

Alec smiles back, lopsided and painfully sincere, and the sight of it steals Magnus’ breath. It’s cut tragically short by Alec seemingly remembering the presence of his sister and Luke. His face falls into an expression more serious and he clears his throat. “Is this everyone then?”

“Maybe,” says Luke. “Still waiting on a person.”

They lapse into silence. Alec stares studiously into a point in the distance, ignoring the looks Izzy keeps shooting him. Luke appears to be trying to communicate something to Magnus through his eyebrows alone. Sadly, eyebrow speak is not amongst the great deal of languages Magnus is fluent in. 

“Well,” says Magnus, when it starts to get a little uncomfortable. He might as well have some fun whilst waiting for Cat. “I for one can’t wait to find this mysterious ‘something’. Hamunaptra is such a fun place to be. I’ve always loved a dirty lair.”

Alec sadly doesn’t bite. "And you've actually been there? For real?" 

"Yes." 

"You swear?" 

Unable to resist, Magnus replies “Every damn day.”

Alec narrows his eyes.  

“Alec,” sighs Izzy. “Give him a break.”

A fire message appears in the corner of Magnus’ vision. He snatches it out of the air and unfolds the paper.

“Cat’s in,” confirms Magnus to Luke. “She’ll portal here soon.”

Luke claps his hands together. “Great. Alec, let’s go get the rest of the stuff.”

Magnus winks at Alec as he brushes past. He flushes a light pink. This is going to be even more fun than Magnus originally thought.

Izzy is smiling knowingly when Magnus looks back at her.

“So, what makes responsible Shadowhunters like you become explorers? What’s in it for you?”

Izzy laughs. “Adventure, of course. What else?” She flips her long hair over her shoulder. The movement makes Magnus notice the familiar necklace resting on her chest.

Magnus falters. "Where did you get that?" His voice comes out harsher than he means it to. 

Izzy looks down, realises he’s speaking of the necklace. “Oh! This one is actually a family heirloom. It’s supposed to glow when there are demons around.” 

 _I know,_ thinks Magnus.

The last Magnus heard of the necklace was that Camille threw it into a river in Paris in a fit of rage, centuries ago. He had briefly entertained the idea of looking for it himself back then, still somewhat attached to the thing and thinking of the lengths he'd gone to procure it as a gift for his ex-girlfriend in the first place. But his sentimentality was won over by his need to leave the dark chapter of his life that was Camille behind. 

Of all the heartbreaks Magnus has accumulated in his long, long life, this one has never truly stopped hurting, but at least now he can think of the necklace and feel only a lingering wistfulness of what could have been, instead of the crushing devastation that plagued him in the months after his heartfelt proposal was met with incredulous laughter. 

Magnus smiles. "It looks good on you.” He holds out an arm for Izzy to take. “Let’s join the others.”  
\---  
  
Technically, Shadowhunters ended their angel-bestowed service in the 18th century, with their victory over the last remaining demons at the Great Battle (a pompous name that always makes Magnus laugh). Demon numbers had been dwindling ever since an unprecedented collective effort by all factions in the Shadow World to plug the weaknesses in the warding of the world that left the Earth exposed to demon dimensions. To this day Magnus still vividly remembers the sheer joy of the moment it was discovered how to replicate the extremely powerful warding present in the demon towers of Alicante all around the world. He's certain even those miserable Silent Brothers were smiling.   

After more than three generations of no demon activity, Shadowhunters found themselves with nothing to do but bother Downworlders meaninglessly. And even that, eventually, started to lose its appeal. With nothing substantial to do, the younger generations got restless and hordes of them de-runed to join the mundane world.

Downworlders across the globe threw a party. Magnus was at many of them. 

But, disappointingly – if not surprisingly - Shadowhunting as a lifestyle never truly died out, though it’s naturally less centralised and widespread. For some families, giving up the runes and duty that defined them was the highest form of treason; for others, belief in their superiority over Downworlders ran too deep for them to feel comfortable leaving them to their own devices.

The Lightwoods could fit into both categories.

Magnus has met a number of them over the years, many of them somehow having the audacity to come to his home to question him over ‘suspicious activity’ and none of them particularly striking him as being worth his time. They were the type to lock themselves away and train in secrecy, hoarding old Nephilim secrets - presumably at the family library Izzy mentions she and her brother work at.   
  
Honestly, Magnus is little shocked they're allowed out at all, let alone with Downworlders. He'd worry about it, but it's clear both siblings have experience in expedition, so he hopes angry elder Lightwoods searching for their rogue children won't be descending upon the camp.   
  
Around a week into the expedition, Izzy and Alec receive a fire message. Alec's face shuts down impressively fast and Izzy instantly asks Magnus if he would be so kind to accompany her to the ward line and portal her to the nearest establishment that sells alcohol.   
  
"Parents," is all she says as explanation. It's all Magnus needs. Lilith knows how many distilleries he’s drunk through in honour of his own.  
  
The work scheduled for that day soon becomes a lost cause. Everyone gives up the pretence of digging to join the Lightwood siblings in blitzing through what appears to be every single type of spirit. Even the other expedition joins, and Magnus finds Lorenzo is vastly less annoying when he's drank so much alcohol that he can hardly lift his head.  
  
Luke is in the middle of telling a story about the last colourful case he worked as a PI - the sincerity of the story remains in question as Magnus can't figure out why certain characters keep returning from the dead - when Magnus realises Alec left the group a while ago and hasn't returned. He frowns over at Izzy, who jerks her head to the right. She’s been handling her liquor well, but still almost falls face first into the sand.   
  
Magnus excuses himself and wanders over to the tents. He finds Alec sprawled on a blanket, gazing up into the stars. Alec smiles lopsidedly up at him.   
  
"You're going to regret sleeping there in the morning."   
  
Alec shrugs, or at least, that's what Magnus thinks he's trying to do. Unlike his sister, he's only had a drink or two, but apparently that's all it takes. Such a lightweight, Magnus finds himself thinking fondly and then promptly panics. It's not even been two weeks. It's no time to be feeling fond yet.   
  
Alec raises one of his ridiculously long arms and grabs one of Magnus' hands. He tugs gently, using his other arm to gesture at the space on the blanket next to him.  
  
"Who knew you were so bold when drunk, Alexander?" says Magnus, amused. He settles in the space next to Alec, who doesn't let go of his hand. Magnus finds he doesn't really want him to. 

Pouting, Alec says “I’m not drunk.”

Magnus can’t help but laugh. “You could have fooled me.”

“I’m not,” insists Alec. “I’ll prove it.” He points up at a star in the sky. "Look. The North Star. I read once that…" He trails off. "You probably know all about it already." 

"Not necessarily," says Magnus, desperately trying not to read into the way Alec is playing with his fingers. "The last time I properly studied star gazing must have been, oh, the 1600s? Galileo was a dreadfully dull teacher compared to you." 

Alec scrunches up his face adorably. “I thought you spent that century touring Russia?”

“Portals, Alexander,” chides Magnus. He’s strangely pleased Alec bothered to remember a story that was at least forty percent nonsense. Alec is always surprising him.

"My parents used to say astronomy was an essential part of Shadowhunting." Magnus snorts. _Shadowhunters_. Alec grins up at the sky. "Yeah, I always thought that was bullshit. They’re so full it." 

"Your parents," says Magnus cautiously. Alec has already lost some of his alcohol-induced ease at a mere reference to them. "I guess they don't approve of all this?" 

"No," sighs Alec. "No, they don't. They only let us do this because they hope we'll get this 'childish nonsense' out of our systems. And then we'll see the error of our ways, come running back, settle down and marry respectable people of Shadowhunter heritage." 

Alec turns his head, looking at Magnus directly in the eye with a sharpness, searching for something - what, Magnus doesn't know. Eventually he says, "There’s this girl they have their eye on for me. Lydia." He hesitates. "But if I ever wanted to get married, it wouldn't be to a girl." 

Ah. 

In a series of uncoordinated movements, Alec turns fully onto his side. More gracefully, Magnus does the same, propping his head up on his now free hand. They're so close he could count each of Alec’s eyelashes.

"I don't want to do what they want for me, but I also can't just tell them no. They're my family and it's important to them, and they're important to me." He looks very lost and very young. "What would you do?" 

Magnus thinks of his own mother, who was so devastated by guilt and shame at the sight of him she could no longer bear her own existence. His stepfather’s furious last words – murderer, disgusting, _monster_ \- that in his lowest moments he still finds himself believing. His father's lessons on how to be a proper warlock, the inhuman rage on his face the day Magnus had finally worked up the nerve to banish him forever.  
  
"I... I have always thought children need to make their own paths. Whether their parents approve or not."   
  
"Hey, where are you guys?" 

Magnus pushes himself to a sitting position quickly. He feels oddly vulnerable considering Alec's the one who's drunk and divulging family drama.    
  
"You're missing the story!" shouts Izzy, stumbling her way over to them. She leans down to whisper "Luke fought a _vampire_." like it’s a huge secret.   
  
Magnus widens his eyes appropriately. "Well we can’t miss hearing about that.” He stands and offers a hand to Alec, who still looks lost in thought. “Are you coming?”

\---  
  
"So, he did give them to you," says Cat, when Magnus drops in to see her during lunch. He’s had a spectacular morning goading Alec into competing with him to see who can pry open the heaviest door made of wall.

Purely for the sake of progressing the expedition, of course. They found a great deal of artefacts through those walls. Absolutely nothing to with the sight of Alec’s muscles straining under his shirt, or the pleased feeling that runs through Magnus when he can feel the heat of Alec’s gaze when Alec thinks he's distracted. Magnus does love a challenge. 

“What are you talking about?”

Cat gestures at the case of tools in his hands. Magnus has, rather embarrassingly, been carrying it around all day.

“How did you--”

Cat rolls her eyes. “He is not a subtle man. And neither are you for that matter. That maybe as well be gold you're carrying the way you're looking at it.” 

“I don't know what you mean,” sniffs Magnus. “I am just appreciating, in a perfectly normal capacity, a thoughtful gift from a friend.”

“Oh, so _friendship_ is what we call that now, I see. I suppose you gaze _lovingly_ at the bandages _I--_ ”

“ _Anyway._ The scrolls? Find anything new?”

Cat gives him a look but allows his distraction to pass. “Nothing that’s helpful I don’t think. Or maybe it is helpful, but I don’t know what we’re supposed to be searching for!”

“Think of the money,” says Magnus soothingly, which makes Cat laugh. Neither of them really care about that – the nurses at Cat's place of work are paid pitifully little whereas Magnus has too much money to know what to do with it. But old warlock stereotypes die hard.  

“Magnus?” calls Luke, from outside the tent. “You in there?”

“Yeah,” he calls back. “What is it?”

“You got a minute?”

Magnus looks back at Cat, who shoos him away.

“Good news and bad news first?” asks Luke when Magnus steps out of the tent.

Luke starts walking to the ruins and Magnus falls into step beside him. “Bad, of course.”

“Lorenzo’s guys found something.” That explains the morning cacophony. “Could be the something our guy wants.”

“Fuck,” swears Magnus. “Well we'll just have to hope it’s not. Any idea what it is?”

“I sent Alec to lurk around and he said it was a chest. They’re trying to get it open now. Alec will keep an eye on them.”

“Alright,” says Magnus, thinking of Cat’s words and smiling at the thought of someone as tall and unsubtle as Alec trying to be inconspicuous in the background. “What’s the good news?”

Luke smiles. “Izzy and I found something too.”

“Yeah?”

“A book. Those collector types like those, right?”

“Huh,” says Magnus. A book and a chest together? Probably a coincidence. “Yeah, I guess they do. What’s it about?”

“Hell, we think. Izzy tells me it’s got a passage on some Prince of Edom. She’s translating right now.”

Magnus goes still. No. It can't be. 

"What?" he says faintly. It could be any old book. There are plenty of books about Hell. Magnus has even written some of his own. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything. But for there to be a chest too...

Luke is still smiling. He has no idea. “Spooky, right? Sort of sounds like those old books Shadowhunters still have.”

Magnus' voice sounds far away even to his own ears. “What does it look like?” He’s never wanted something to be a Shadowhunter textbook so badly.

"Big, red and gold, kind of dusty-- Magnus? Hey! Where are you going?" 

Magnus doesn't realise how fast he's sprinting until he has to skid to a stop, looking wildly between the two different pathways the ruins present him with. "Izzy!" he yells, hoping she can hear and direct him. "Izzy!" 

"Magnus!" shouts Luke, voice getting closer from behind him. "What is it?" 

Fuck it, thinks Magnus, and goes for the path on the right. He clambers over some rocks, Luke still shouting behind him. The farther he goes, the colder the place seems to get. Or maybe it's just Magnus shaking. 

"No, no, no," he finds himself muttering. Please be something else. Please be _anything else_. Please, please, please.

He rounds a corner and there Izzy stands, bent over and reading. Aloud. 

"Stop talking!" 

Izzy looks up, confused, and stops. Now that her thick hair isn’t covering it anymore, Magnus can see the book clearly and no such luck. It’s the one.

Luke bursts into the chamber, panting. "What's going on?" A cold, unsettling breeze floats through the room. 

Izzy is watching Magnus expectantly with wide eyes, but he can't bring himself to speak, can hardly fucking breath. The ground begins to tremble.

He was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wonder who they have released...a mystery :)


	2. PART TWO: ERCHOMAI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter 2 aka the exposition chapter :)

Izzy jumps into action first, perhaps motivated by the look of abject horror that Magnus is sure is present on his own face. She picks up the book and starts running, helpfully grabbing Magnus’ arm on the way to get him moving – otherwise, he may just have stayed there, frozen.

“What are we running from?” yells Luke over the increasing rumbling sound. All around them, the walls are shaking.

Magnus doesn’t get the chance to yell back an answer before Izzy screams “Look out!” He stops just in time for a large rock to fall right in front of him, right where he would have run through. He covers his head with his arms as more tumble down violently.

When the noise stops, Magnus lowers his arms. The pathway is now blocked by a large rockfall. 

A familiar voice calls from a distance “Magnus? Luke? Anyone?”

“I’m here!” Magnus calls back. Moments later, Alec appears in his line of vision.

Alec sounds a little breathless when he approaches. “There are demons. I don’t recognise what type they are.”

Demons. Their presence will have broken down the power of the wards enough for Magnus to use a little magic. He raises his hands to start work on moving the rocks out of the way, but Alec misinterprets his gesture and hands him a gun. Magnus blinks down at it.

“It’s got adamas bullets,” says Alec helpfully, at Magnus’ confused expression. “For the demons.”

Magnus opens his mouth to explain when there’s a loud scream.

“Izzy,” whispers Alec. He breaks into a run back the way he came from. “Izzy!”

“Alec, wait!” Magnus sprints after him but _Lilith_ , he’s fast. He almost runs straight past Alec by accident – Alec, who’s dropped his gun and is trying to rip down a stone wall with only his bare hands. The noises coming from behind the wall are --

Magnus lunges forward, grabs Alec’s wrists to stop him. “Alec, stop, that won’t help.” Alec looks at him desperately.

“Let me figure this out,” says Magnus and Alec nods. Magnus translates the words on the wall rapidly. “Okay, when I say, push.” He grabs a star-shaped knob that’s protruding from the wall. He pushes it into the wall, then turns it ninety degrees clockwise. “Now.”

Alec doesn’t waste any time pushing the wall aside. The room is cold and dark, and Izzy has pressed her back against the opposite wall, her eyes shut tightly.

Alec rushes to her. “Izzy?” She opens her eyes cautiously and then almost sobs in relief, throwing her arms around her brother.

“Izzy,” says Alec, frantically. “Izzy, are you okay?”

Magnus glances around the room and his stomach drops. There on the ground lies a skeleton. He hopes he’s wrong but-

“He – he just sucked him dry!” says Izzy into Alec’s shoulder, distraught, confirming Magnus’ suspicions. “I thought he was going to do that to me too.”

“Who?” asks Alec, bewildered. “Do what?”

“Where did the book go?” asks Magnus, urgently.

“Luke took it,” says Izzy, releasing Alec from her grip. “We got separated, I don’t know where -”

A shriek echoes through the room.

Magnus spins, cocking the gun, and fires. An Asmodei dissolves in front of him, demonic traces of the body falling at his feet. That kills any bit of lingering hope Magnus might have had that maybe it was another Greater Demon – Abaddon, Belphegor, _anyone else_. Anyone but _him_.

“We should go before more of them arrive,” he says.

\---  
  
“So, does someone want to explain what the fuck just happened?” 

Magnus raises his head from where he was resting it in his hands. Lorenzo is pacing across what remains of their campsite, back and forth nervously. Catarina is trying to patch up Luke's wounds. And Izzy is sitting with her arms wrapped around herself, ignoring her brother’s comforts. 

Lorenzo stops in front of Magnus and glares down at him. “Is it him?” 

Catarina pauses in her work. 

Magnus nods. 

“Fuck,” swears Lorenzo, and continues his pacing. 

“Who's 'him'?” asks Alec, patting Izzy's shoulder absentmindedly. 

“Asmodeus,” snaps Lorenzo. “One of the nine princes of Hell.”

Alec’s eyes widen. “A Prince of Hell? What? How?”

“The book,” says Izzy, quietly. She keeps her eyes on the ground. “The book we found released him, didn’t it?”

Magnus sighs. “Yes.”

“Just him?”

For now, thinks Magnus, but he says “Yes.” No need to make everyone feel worse about an already abysmal enough situation.

“Why does a book that can do that exist?”

“It used to be one half of a larger book. Every spell, especially one with the power to banish something that powerful, must have a counter spell, and- “Magnus breaks off and rubs his temples. “Does it matter? The point is it does exist.”

Alec frowns. “And Izzy reading from it released a Prince of Hell? Even though she doesn’t have magic? Even with the wards?”

“Yes,” says Magnus. “Please don’t make me explain the magical theory behind how that worked.”

“Not to ask a stupid question,” says Luke. “But how come none of us knew about this?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious that if Shadowhunters knew about a book that could potentially release Greater Demons, they never would have done us the favour of de-runing. No offence, Luke, but the warlocks of the Spiral Labyrinth didn’t exactly trust the werewolves not to blab.”

Luke crosses his arms over his chest. “But they’re fine with leaving it lying around in Hamunaptra?”

Getting to his feet, Magnus cries “It’s not supposed to be just lying around in the City of the Dead! It’s meant to be buried under thousands of layers of wards. It should have been impossible to get to.” 

"Maybe you're responsible for this," says Lorenzo, poisonously. "Convenient that you were here when it happened, since you’re one of the only people in the world who knew of this precious _book_. You and Asmodeus were very close once, weren't you?" 

“Shut up, Lorenzo," says Catarina. “We don’t have time for this.”

"My men have died-" 

"Maybe they shouldn't have opened the chest--" 

"Well if that idiot hadn't started reading--" 

"Say that again," says Alec, lowly. Izzy grips his wrist. 

"Alec, it's fine." 

"That's easy for you to say--" 

"Enough," says Magnus, too quietly. "Hey, ENOUGH!" 

Everyone falls silent. “It doesn't matter how it happened.” Lorenzo snorts incredulously. “It doesn't. What matters is how we stop him.”

“Oh no,” says Lorenzo, laughing shortly. “I'm not getting involved in that bullshit.” 

“You opened the chest,” Magnus reminds him. God, he's always hated Lorenzo, but he wouldn't wish this upon even him. “You're already involved. He drained your friends of their energy and it doesn't matter where you go - Asmodeus will find you and do the same. That is the curse he placed.”

Lorenzo’s face is pale. 

“How do we stop him?” asks Izzy, still unable to meet Magnus', or indeed, anyone’s eye. 

“There's another book we need, the other part of the entire text. The Book of the White. It was what was used to banish him in the first place.”

Magnus remembers it well, even so many centuries on. Sometimes he still dreams of it – dreams of how the chest had glowed as his father spoke the curse, the last words he spoke in this dimension; or nightmares where the ceremony goes wrong, and it never really worked at all. Magnus had clearly been unbelievably stupid to think the book, or the chest, were safe in someone else’s hands.

“We’ll just have to send the Spiral Labyrinth a message and hope they still have that book. In the meantime, this collector we were working for," he asks Luke. “What did you say his name was again?"”

“Sebastian Verlac. Why?” 

“There’s something suspicious about this whole thing, Lorenzo’s not wrong. I think we should pay Mr Verlac a visit.”

\---

Magnus’ suspicions are confirmed when they arrive at Sebastian Verlac’s house in Cairo only to have the man try to drop everything and run when he sees the stony expressions on his treasured employees faces.

Sebastian falls to his knees with a thud. Magnus freezes him in place with ease.

"Why did you send us to Hamunaptra?" 

Sebastian lifts his head, glaring behind Magnus at Luke. "I don't have to answer to you, mutt." 

Magnus clicks his fingers. Sebastian opens his mouth and finds no voice comes out. "How about you answer to me then? Why? Do your best to tell the truth. You won’t feel very well otherwise." He clicks to allow him to speak again. 

"For my mother," spits Sebastian. "Lilith, queen of all demons." 

There's a pause, before Lorenzo scoffs. "That's impossible." 

Sebastian smirks. "A great deal of impossible things have happened to you in the last day, haven't they?" 

"Explain," demands Alec, blunt as always. 

"I thought you were supposed to be _clever_.”

"Get to the point, Verlac." 

"It's not Verlac. It's Morgenstern. Jonathan Morgernstern." 

"You're a Shadowhunter," says Izzy, shocked. "A Shadowhunter with a demon for a parent?" 

"My father-" 

"Valentine Morgernstern," says Luke, tightly. 

"That's right," sneers Sebastian - Jonathan. "My father was obsessed with the fight against demons. Going on and on about how it was only a matter of time before they would break through the walls again. That Shadowhunters were fools for leaving the life ordained by the angel behind, and that their arrogance was going to doom the world. So, he wanted to get there first. Break through the walls himself and kill them before they could." 

“He was an idiot. He never did succeed. But that didn’t stop him experimenting. The Lightwoods aren’t the only ones with their secrets – the Morgernsterns have kept their own throughout the years. One of them was a vial of demon’s blood. Lilith’s blood.”

“So when you say she’s your mother--”

“She is,” snaps Jonathan. “She’s more my mother than Valentine could ever be my father. Her blood, it made me something more, something better. That was what he wanted – until he couldn’t beat me in a fight, until I became too _demonic_ for him. He cast me away.”

“So you decided you’d release her," says Magnus. "Get a little motherly love and damn the world in the process. Why not do this all yourself, if you knew where the book was?”

“You think I actually know how to go exploring?” sneers Jonathan. “I didn’t even know what would be there – just that whatever it was would have the power to release her.”

“Told by who?”

Jonathan hesitates. “The Seelie Queen. She told me that what I needed to fulfil my desire laid in the City of the Dead.”

Magnus scoffs. He’s not surprised. The Seelie Queen has always had a reputation for knowing secrets she shouldn’t.

“It's Asmodeus that's free,” says Alec. “Not your mother.” 

“Yes,” says Jonathan, slowly, looking Magnus right in the eye. “But she will be free soon enough.” 

Magnus can feel everyone's gaze on his back. "He's right," he says. "If Asmodeus wants what he did all those years ago, which he will, he will need Lilith's power by his side." 

He won’t stop there either. He’ll awaken all his lieutenants next, and their demons, all coming to wreak havoc.  

“There'll be no stopping him," says Jonathan gleefully. “Either of them. The skies of the world will turn dark with -”

Magnus clicks his fingers. The room is deadly silent. The prospect of a renewed demon invasion is a lot to take in. He'll bet not even the Lightwoods taught for this possibility in their lessons. 

He turns around, knowing Jonathan won't be going anywhere any time soon. “Let’s try and focus on the positives,” he says, trying to reassure the five worried faces looking at him. “The wards around the world are still up. And we still have the book. Asmodeus is powerful but he can't do anything without that book.”

“But he'll come for it, won’t he?” says Lorenzo. “He'll come for _me_.” 

The room remains silent. Magnus truly wishes any of them could say otherwise.  
  
\---

One time in the 17th century, a hapless Shadowhunter had released the Greater Demon Azazel in exchange for a deal involving some souls and riches, no doubt.

Magnus had assisted in tracking his dear uncle down, eventually finding and trapping him in an abandoned warehouse in London. A fire message later, warlocks from the Spiral Labyrinth arrived with the Book of the White and secured Azazel properly in a magical circle.

“Magnus Bane,” Azazel had said, lip curling. “I should have known. This is how you treat family now.”

Magnus met his eyes squarely as the warlocks of the Spiral Labyrinth began to prepare for the banishment ritual around them. He wished they would hurry up – the barrier would not hold Azazel and his magic for long.

“If only your father could see you now. His precious heir, now turned dashing hero putting his life on the line for little mundanes.”

“Yes, yes,” said Magnus, rolling his eyes. Azazel was sorely mistaken if he thought mentioning his father would what – scare Magnus off? Make him fall to his knees and repent for banishing him? “I’m wasting all my power on unworthy beings and endeavours, I’m not being a _proper warlock_ – I’ve heard this all before, Azazel.”

“He misses you very dearly.”

Magnus scoffed. “I doubt that. My father loves to hold a grudge; besides, he doesn’t even know what it means to truly miss somebody. He does not care for me, or miss me - he ‘misses’ a thing he can control.”

“Is that not what children are for? You really have spent too long here, Magnus.”

“And so have you. I think it’s time for you to be getting home now.” The other warlocks nodded to Magnus, signalling they were ready. Magnus fought not to show the relief on his face.

Azazel shrugged. He straightened his tie casually, unbothered. “I will be back eventually. Scatter me into as many pieces as you want - the greed of humans, even the angel-blessed, is everlasting. I will always be welcome here. Just as you will be in Edom.”

His face twisted ever so slightly in pain as a warlock began to recite the spell. Though they were brothers, Azazel and Asmodeus had never seemed so alike until this moment.

“Goodbye, Azazel.” Magnus turned away, and did not look back.   
\---  
"Hey." 

Magnus looks up from his drink that’s not nearly strong enough. He’d wandered down to the hotel bar after receiving what may have been the most pointless fire message he has ever received in his life.

_Books were stolen centuries ago. Unknown who the thief. Can confirm worldwide wards are still up and working._

To think Magnus ever entrusted it to them. The old bureaucrats are more concerned with preserving their reputation, keeping everything quiet, than the fact one of the most powerful Greater Demons is on the loose because of their incompetence. They hadn’t offered anything of substance – not even an offer to send a couple of warlocks to help protect the book or search for the Book of the White.

Because Asmodeus will come for it. Magnus has put some protective warding around it but that’s essentially the magical equivalent of putting up a fence made of paper to keep wild bears out. Sooner or later, he’ll show up and none of them has the first idea where to start looking for the Book of the White.  

Alec gestures vaguely at the seat next to Magnus. "Can I?" 

"Yes, of course." 

Alec smiles, and sits down. Magnus turns on his seat to face him properly.  

"Can I ask you a question?"' asks Alec, once he's settled. "You don't have to answer it." 

"Sure," says Magnus, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach. Maybe Alec just wants to poke a hole in another one of Magnus' wildly exaggerated stories. 

"How did you know about the books? I mean, Catarina and Lorenzo had no idea about them – even Jonathan didn’t know that you knew." 

Magnus closes his eyes briefly. This is it. This is the moment where the thing was tentatively blooming between them ends. 

"Asmodeus and I were...close, once, Lorenzo was right about that," says Magnus, carefully. "That’s how I know about the books, I was the one who banished him. Because. Well.” He takes a breath. “Because he's my father." 

Alec blinks. "Oh." 

Magnus waits for Alec to get up and leave, to make a perfectly reasonable excuse and flee. For the earnest look on his face to turn into disgust, or worse, disappointment. Or perhaps even for the accusations of lying, of putting them all in danger, of being too selfish to tell them something so important. 

Because he is selfish. It doesn't matter to him that men like Lorenzo know, men who hate Magnus for a multitude of other reasons and who Magnus hates enthusiastically back. But he'd thought - maybe Alec could have been - that there might – 

It doesn't matter. It always ends the same way. 

As if he can read minds, Alec reaches out, brushing his fingers lightly against Magnus' arm that’s resting on the bar. "Hey. I don't mind, you know that right? It doesn't change anything. I care about who you are, not your father." 

Magnus stares at him, disbelieving. 

Alec smiles a little nervously. "I mean it." 

"But, but," says Magnus, floundering a little. "You don't even know, about what I used to do for him." 

"I don't need to know," cuts in Alec. "Whatever happened back then, you can tell me if that's what you want to do. But I already know everything I need to to say that you're nothing like him. Not really." 

Magnus opens his mouth, then closes it again. Alec sounds so certain that it's hard to argue with him. 

"How's - how is Isabelle?" he asks, when he manages to regain his voice. 

"She's blaming herself, of course." Alec looks down at his hands. "She won't listen to me. I think she just needs some time alone." 

“She’ll be okay,” says Magnus.

Alec eyes him shrewdly. “Will you? I get the feeling you’re blaming yourself too.”

He’s saved from having to answer by Luke, who enters the bar holding a bottle and two glasses. He spots the two of them and makes his way over.

Luke places the bottle down on the bar between Magnus and Alec. “Figured we could all use something a little stronger than what they’re allowed to sell.” He pours out two drinks. At Magnus’ nod, he adds to Magnus’ glass too.

“There we go,” says Luke, raising his glass. “To surviving another day.”

Alec takes a cautious sip and spits it out. “Ugh, what is this? It’s disgusting.”

Confused, Luke says “Just whiskey.” He takes a sip himself and chokes on it. “Huh. Not whiskey. It tastes just like…”

Magnus looks down at his own drink. His stomach sinks. “Blood.” He glances at the bottled drinks behind the bar and finds them all to have turned a deep red.

“And the rivers and waters of the world ran red,” recites Alec. “And were as blood.” It’s a passage from an early Shadowhunter’s diary, one of the first who fought in the original battles of the Incursion. The passage is often quoted in all the old textbooks; if Magnus remembers correctly, it’s part of an ominous guidance for young students - five signs that herald the coming of Asmodeus, Prince of Hell, Ruler of Edom.

Magnus swallows. “He’s here.”  
  
\---

Magnus runs up the stairs. “Lorenzo!”

He bursts through the doors to the room Lorenzo had claimed. It’s empty. He runs to the window to see the chaos Asmodeus has unleashed. An unnatural sandstorm rages on, Asmodei screeching loudly as they attack indiscriminately.

Cat is doing to her best to shield who she can, gripping Izzy’s hand tightly to draw strength. 

Magnus raises a hand to help – how, he doesn’t know, where to even _start_ – but a familiar hum of magic coming from behind stops him.

Filled with dread, Magnus turns around slowly.  

“Father.” 

“Son.” 

Asmodeus still leans on the same cane he did when he’d offered a young, shuddering Magnus a seemingly friendly hand to take. Still wears the same kind of suit he did for their family dinners, where Magnus would demonstrate his progress on the latest spell he was taught.

But Magnus is not a child anymore.

“It's been a while,” says Magnus. Asmodeus walks forward, leaning heavily on the cane. He reaches out a hand to place under Magnus’ chin.

“Very long,” agrees Asmodeus, tilting Magnus’s head slightly to one side, and then to the other, as if he’s an interesting specimen to be examined. He flashes the cat – like eyes Magnus loathes so much. “I wonder whose fault that is?” 

“Yes,” says Magnus, furious in a way he hasn't been in a long time. It’s taking every ounce of self-control he has to not to wrench himself out of his father’s grip. “I wonder.” 

Asmodeus pulls his hand back, looking disappointed. “I had hoped you would have moved past your childish rebellion by now, Magnus.”

“I always thought you approved of rebellion.” Magnus clenches his jaw. “Let's just get straight to it, father. What are you planning?” 

His father raises an eyebrow. “Do you really have to ask?” 

“What, world domination?” says Magnus, exasperated. “Isn’t ruling Edom enough for you? Isn't this, a life free from banishment, enough for you?”

Asmodeus scoffs. “You would have me do what, exactly? Live amongst the mortals, play along with their self- righteous laws, pick a few to love for their fleeting, insignificant lives? What kind of existence is that?”

“More than you deserve,” Magnus shoots back. Someone down below screams. Magnus closes his eyes briefly at the sound of it.

“Just stop all this. Leave them alone. I'll come with you, just - please. Stop hurting them.”

Asmodeus tilts his head, amused. “Tempting offer. Tempting, indeed. But I came here for a human sacrifice, Magnus. Seems they can be useful, if annoying.”

“Use _me_ instead,” begs Magnus. “Take me. I know you could. Just leave them out of this.”

His father almost looks upset at the suggestion. “Sacrifice my only son? No, Magnus, I need you by my side, not bleeding on an altar for the sake of Lilith.”

Magnus shakes his head. “What?”

“Don’t be fatuous, my boy. You have run from what you are long enough. Playing with mortals is amusing, I will grant you that, and I am sure you have had your fun. But it is time to take your rightful place next to me.”

“You think – think. You think I’m going to help with all of this,” realises Magnus. He almost wants to laugh at the absurdity of what Asmodeus is talking about. “Help you release Greater Demons, and all your demons, and then rule over the chaos they make with you.”

“It is your place,” says Asmodeus.

This time, Magnus does actually laugh, short and scornful. He’s imagined a lot of ways his father’s return could play out, but he hadn’t ever thought Asmodeus would be this – delusional. “That’s not going to happen. That will never happen.”

Asmodeus’ face darkens.

“What I taught you made you the man you are now,” says Asmodeus, low and dangerous. “You would do well to remember that.”

“Remember what? The way you manipulated me - those awful spells you taught me, the innocent people you'd have me practice on?” Magnus grits his teeth. “I’ve spent centuries trying to _forget_ all the reasons I banished you.”

“How dare you?” seethes Asmodeus. “I gave you everything – your tremendous power, a whole kingdom that you could call your own, even your name, _Magnus_. What would you be without me, without the guidance you denounce so easily? A lost little boy wandering the streets, hands still bloody from the blade his wretched mother- 

“Don't talk about her!” 

There's a crack of lightening outside.

Magnus blinks, unclenching the fists he didn't even know he was making. He feels like an exposed nerve, shuddering, dark magic he hasn't used in centuries crackling under his skin. 

There's an awful, familiar expression on Asmodeus' face. 

Pride. 

“Oh, my dear boy,” chuckles Asmodeus, moving away. He flicks his fingers lazily and a portal winks into existence. “Do you see now? Don't you see this is what you were always meant to be?”

Magnus takes a calming breath, but still can’t stop his voice from cracking when he tries to insist “It’s not. It’s _not_.”

Asmodeus smiles coldly. “There is a time when we all must return to live in the houses of our fathers, Magnus. I will be seeing you soon.”

His father steps through the portal and disappears. 

Magnus walks over to the window, feeling numb as he watches the storm die down, the demons vanish, and the dust clear. He can see Luke, helping a coughing Cat up from the ground, and Izzy, searching frantically for the book and brother that have disappeared together.  

Of course.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	3. PART THREE: RAISING HELL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end of the road lads...can't believe it was a mummy au of all the things that ends up being the longest thing i've ever written.

What little is left of the marketplace is a mess. The mundanes don’t know what to think of it - a sandstorm making screeching noises? It's been so long since a breach like this Magnus finds he doesn't even remember what the protocol is for dealing with mundanes who have had the Shadow World revealed to them. 

The time for thinking and trying to make rational plans is over. His father has the book and Alec and an awful plan, and Magnus dreads to think - 

They never did find Lorenzo.

“Maybe we should go to the Seelie Court.”

Magnus stares at Cat uncomprehendingly. “Why on earth would we want to do that?” There's crazy plans and then there's _crazy plans_.

Cat shrugs. “She knew about where the Book of the Dead was. It stands to reason she’d know about where the other one is as well. I think we’ve established the Spiral Labyrinth are not going to be much help.”

“We are running out of time,” says Magnus. Any minute now his father could release Lilith. “Okay, let’s do it.”

“Woah,” says Luke, holding his hands up in what’s meant to be a calming manner. Even Cat seems alarmed at how fast he agreed to it. “Maybe we should think on this a little before we go storming in.”

“No, we should go right now,” says Izzy. “If there’s even a chance she knows anything--” She breaks off, agitated. “We should already be there,” she insists.

“I agree with Isabelle,” says Magnus. He adds regretfully “Although I don’t think the queen would take too well to demands from a Shadowhunter, so perhaps it’s best if you stay behind. Sorry.”

“Magnus are you sure about this?” asks Cat. “If they do know something, she could make you promise anything over to her. And they won’t take it well if barge in and start accusing them of things.”

“I won’t accuse her of anything,” insists Magnus. “And – you’re the one who suggested this! I’m just going to ask her if she knows anything.”

Cat doesn’t look convinced. “I’m coming with you then. Just to make sure you don’t do something stupid.”

Magnus almost rolls his eyes. “If you must.” He opens up a portal. “We won’t be long,” he promises Izzy, and steps through.

\---

"Why do you even want to resurrect her?" asks Alec, trying futilely to loosen the ropes. His arms ache already. He's only giving himself rope burn for his trouble, but it makes him feel a little better until the others arrive. 

If they arrive. He doesn't doubt their dedication, but - Well. Alec woke up tied down to this stone table with no fucking idea where he is. Even if they do get here, it’ll probably be too late for him, but maybe they can still stop everything else.

That doesn’t mean Alec isn’t going to try and distract Asmodeus with obnoxious questions. “Why her? Of all the demons.”

Asmodeus doesn't pause for even a second in his preparations. He used the book to summon a knife which he’s using to carve intricate patterns into the table around Alec.

“The textbooks say you hated each other.”

“Hate.” Asmodeus gives an amused huff. “What a... human way of seeing things. Lilith and I have known one another for almost all of time. I watched when the Heavenly Father cast her away from Eden, and not long later did she watch my brethren fall from the heavens to Pandemonium and build our kingdoms.”

“I helped her and Sammael perform the ritual that first began what you call the Incursion. Do you really think you could begin to comprehend that kind of relationship?" 

“I didn’t ask for a history lesson,” says Alec, irritably. The least Asmodeus could do is slow down a little if he’s going to lecture him. “It’s really nice you did all those things together, but didn’t you also go to war over who ruled Edom?”

“How sure you are of your knowledge. Even now, after seeing for certain that you understand so very little of the world, you still have faith in the words of your textbooks?”

“What else is there to have faith in? _You?_ ”

Asmodeus smirks. “No, little Shadowhunter. You will find even less solace in me than you do in your precious angels.” He finishes his carvings and steps back, moving away from the altar.

“If I’m going to die over this you could at least answer me,” Alec calls after him. “Did you fight her or what?”

Asmodeus returns with the book, which he rests on the altar next to Alec. He begins flipping through, casually and carefully. “Of course we fought. But it has no matter. Lilith has always been a practical demon. She will see how beneficial a partnership will be to the both of us.”

Asmodeus stops at a page and smiles coldly at Alec. “Of course, I will banish her once again when she serves her purpose. I do not like sharing.” The knife gleams in his hand.

Unsettled, Alec tries the ropes again. "What are you doing?" Asmodeus positions the knife over his stomach. 

"Hold still." 

\---  
  
“Your Majesty.” Magnus and Cat both bow deeply.

The Queen rests her hands lightly on the arms of her throne. She’s chosen to appear in the form of child, as she so often does – to fool the unsuspecting into underestimating her capacity for evil. “Magnus Bane. Catarina Loss. It has been a long time since either of you have come to my court. To what do I owe this visit?”

“I just have a simple question, your majesty.”

The Queen nods encouragingly. “You have come to ask about the Book of the White, have you not?”

“Yes,” says Magnus. He can’t quite hide the bitter note in his voice. “I guess a lot of people have come around asking for that particular book.”

She smiles at him, looking almost proud. “You are referring to the Morgenstern child. Funny little Jonathan. The first Shadowhunter to come to my court from your world in such a very long time.”

“And you got so excited you told him right where the book was. Were you also the one who stole it?”

“Magnus,” hisses Catarina.

The Queen continues smiling. “No. I did not steal either of the books. The Spiral Labyrinth wards are, as you know, impenetrable even for a Seelie.”

“You know who did steal them?”

“ _Magnus._ ”

“I do not know the exact details of how the theft was conducted. It has little matter in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t it?”

Magnus takes a calming breath. “Okay. Would you be so kind as to tell me where the Book of the White is?”

The Queen tilts her head, curious. “What do you have to offer to me in exchange?”

“What is it that you want? What did Jonathan give you for the information?”

She chuckles lightly. “You will not be able to offer what he did, I assure you.”

“Then what?” If there was time he would stop to ask exactly what Jonathan had, that could win such information from a bored immortal that has access to near all the dimensions, could obtain anything she would ever want without even having to lift a finger.

 “What I want from you is a favour.”

“A favour,” repeats Magnus. “What kind of favour?”

Slowly, the Queen rises from her seat. “You are a powerful warlock, Magnus Bane. I have found it is very useful to have a powerful man owe you. I want one favour – one day, in the future, when I will call upon you for a service and you must perform it, no questions. I can guarantee it will not harm any of your loved ones.”

“Magnus,” says Cat, lowly. “Maybe we should --”

“You have a deal,” says Magnus, before anything can stop him, and holds out a hand. The Queen takes it and Magnus feels the cold burst of Seelie magic shoot up his arm, binding him to the agreement.

The Queen releases his hand and turns back towards her throne. “The book you seek is in the City of the Dead. They were stolen together. I will even tell you this for free -the City is where your father is right now.”

Magnus glances over at Cat. She nods back at him.

“Thank you, your majesty,” says Cat, bowing again. “We should be leaving now.”

“Wait,” commands the Queen. She picks a rose from her gardens, twirling it lightly between her fingers as she walks back over to Magnus.

“When the last petal on this rose turns black, then you will know it is time for my favour. Make sure not to be late.”

Magnus takes the rose from her hand. He forces out a small smile. “I am always prompt, your majesty. On that note, we really must be on our way.”

“Good luck,” she calls out after them. Magnus resists the urge to shudder. He can’t shake the feeling the Seelie Queen has been planning to get this favour from him a lot longer than she was letting on.

\---

"What- what did you do to me?" Alec manages to cough out when the ordeal is done, blinking back tears. The left side of his torso burns with pain. 

Asmodeus has moved somewhere out of his sight. "A simple - what do you Shadowhunters call it? Rune, yes? A simple rune. It will allow Lilith to drain your energy for herself. Relocation from Edom is taxing. I had my chest; Lilith will start with you." 

Alec doesn't feel like he has any energy left. “They’ll stop you,” he says, voice too weak for his liking.

“If that makes this easier for you, I am happy for you to believe it. But there is no stopping this, or what is to come.”

Asmodeus returns to the table, book in hand. His free hand is glowing already. He looks down at Alec almost pityingly. “Perhaps they will write about you in their new textbooks.”

He begins reading from the book in demonic language Alec doesn’t understand. Alec closes his eyes when the glow of magic becomes too much. He can feel himself getting more and more tired, the energy draining out of him unnaturally. What's the last thing he said to Izzy? To his parents?

He never –- He never even told Magnus –-

Abruptly, the chanting stops.

Alec opens his eyes. He’s fairly sure the ritual has stopped considering how he can suddenly breath again.

Asmodeus looks angry. He closes the book and moves to set it down, then seems to think better of it. Without sparing Alec another glance, he waves his hand to open a portal, which he throws the book through and then steps into himself.

Alec allows himself a few seconds of hard blinking in an attempt to get the world to stop spinning before he starts on the ropes again.

“Alec?”

Alec turns his head to the right. He hopes he’s not seeing things. “Catarina?”

She runs downs the stone stairs to him. “I can’t get these off,” he says. Catarina’s hands glow blue as they move over the ropes.

“They’re enchanted,” she grimaces. “His magic is strong. But I think he got a little cocky. There.” The ropes loosen.

Catarina helps him pull them off his wrists and ankles. “What’s happening?”

“The Book of the White is here. Your sister and Luke are looking for it. Magnus is playing the distraction.”

“He’s _what_?” Alec sits up abruptly, almost bumping into her, still feeling dizzy. Magnus is going to get himself killed. “We have to go – go help him.” He moves to stand up, but Catarina stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down. Magnus needs help from someone who has magic. You’re better use trying to look for the book and getting it to us. Okay?”

Alec frowns. He knows she’s right but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. “Okay.”

She smiles. “Get a move on then.”

\---

“Magnus,” says Asmodeus, with a forced calm. “I hope this your own particular way of telling me you have come to join me.”

Magnus lifts his chin. “I’m going to have let you down then, father.”

Asmodeus sighs like Magnus is a particularly annoying pest. “Do not make me do something I not do not wish to do, son.” A faint glow appears around his hands.

Magnus drops the glamour on his eyes. It’s only wasted magic at this point. “You’re welcome to not fight back.”

\---

Izzy rushes up to a dusty wall, grinning widely. “It’s here!”

Alec joins her and presses against the stone. It doesn’t budge. “Are you sure?”

Izzy doesn’t look away from the writing. “Positive.” After a few moments, she spins around. “Okay, Luke, take…. three steps to the right.”

Luke does as asked.

“Alec, push that thing – no, the other one – yeah! Push it into the wall and turn it clockwise three clicks, then anticlockwise 7 clicks.”

Nothing happens.

“Oh,” says Izzy, a little indignant. “That was supposed to -- ”

There’s a yell, and when Izzy and Alec turn back to look, Luke has vanished. They run over to the square shaped hole in the ground that’s been left behind.

“Luke!” shouts Alec down the hole. “Luke, are you okay?”

There’s the sound of coughing and then “I’m fine.” Izzy and Alec sigh in relief together. “You could have warned me about that! Where the hell am I?”

“Sorry! Can you see the book?”

After a few moments they hear “Yeah, it’s here. I’ve got it.”

“Great!” Izzy hesitates. Oh no. Alec knows what that face means. “Um, can you also see a way out?”

“Not really.”

“That’s – that’s fine,” says Izzy, unconvincingly. “We’ll think of something.”

“Something?” Alec whispers at her. "We don't have time to start _brainstorming!_ "

“I don’t know!” Izzy hisses back. “They didn’t exactly leave instructions on how to escape the trap door.”

“Guys,” calls Luke. “Get ready to catch.”

Catch? Before Alec can say anything, the book flies up towards them. He and Izzy both lunge forward to catch it between their hands.

Luke sounds smug when he says, “Werewolf strength. Even better than your accuracy runes. ”

“We really found it,” says Izzy, tracing a reverent hand over the book.

“Listen, you guys should go on without me.”

Alec blanches. “Luke, no we need –-”

“ _You need_ to get the book to Magnus, so he can stop all this.” A noise that sounds suspiciously like a bone cracking echoes. Luke’s voice is several tones deeper when he continues. “I’ll find my own way out of here.”

Izzy is already turning away. “Let’s go.”

Alec stops her with a hand. What Luke said about runes… “Wait. We shouldn’t just go running in there. I have an idea.” He puts hand up to his shoulder and feels the familiar weight of his bow shimmer into existence. Hopefully all the training will finally pay off. “Have you got a stele on you?”

\---

Fighting with his father like this is something Magnus hoped he would have never have to do again.

In the corner of his vision, Magnus can see Izzy appear, clutching the Book of the White in her arms. Cat must notice her too, because next second she launches an attack from behind, magic slamming into Asmodeus’ back. Asmodeus turns to face her, sufficiently distracted for the moment, allowing Izzy to run up to Magnus.

Magnus practically rips it from her grip and starts flipping through frantically. At the same time, he summons a small tube filled with sand and hands it to Izzy.

After what seems like forever, he finds the page he needs and waves a hand over the tube, reciting from the book. The sand turns a blood red. “I need you to pour this sand in a circle around Asmodeus. There can’t be any gaps.”

Izzy nods and gets to work immediately. Magnus drops the book for now and focuses back on Asmodeus, who holds Cat in an invisible, choking grip.

“It’s me you want!” shouts Magnus, and Asmodeus turns back, letting Cat fall to the floor, her eyes fluttering shut.

“Yes,” says Asmodeus, slowly. “No more distractions. Let’s see how much you still remember.”

“Very good,” he says, when Magnus blocks the first magical blow with ease. “This is one of the first I taught you, was it not?”

He grunts quietly when Magnus hits back. Magnus feels the air around him thin dramatically in retaliation. 

Asmodeus tilts his head. “Did you not think this spell worth practicing?” he asks.

“Not particularly,” forces out Magnus. “I’m not a big fan squeezing people to death.”

Suddenly, Asmodeus releases the pressure, breaking their stalemate. Magnus heaves in a breathe and in that moment Asmodeus sends Izzy flying into the air. She slams into a pillar several feet away and drops to the floor, unconscious. The tube rolls out of her limp hand.

“You think I forgot how you betrayed me the last time, did you?” says Asmodeus with disdain. The air turns hot, almost ablaze with his magic. Magnus can see the tube cracking slowly, the last of the red sand threatening to spill out.

Asmodeus makes a sharp twisting gesture with his hand, advancing. Magnus grits his teeth but still can’t manage to stop a cry escaping him. He retaliates with his own ball of pain, viciously satisfied when it hits Asmodeus in the shoulder and stops his progress forward momentarily.

But there’s no hope if the circle is unfinished.

Asmodeus’ gaze flickers away from Magnus to something behind him. His smug and contemptuous expression falls a little as a runed arrow flies past Magnus and embeds itself in Asmodeus’ chest. The arrow gives Magnus a split second – a second where Asmodeus’ magic falters slightly in shock, a final second of distraction.

But that split second is all Magnus needs. Before his father can recover, he summons the tube back to his hands. Asmodeus rips the arrow out of his chest, snarling, and slams a wall of magic back into Magnus. Magnus throws up a weak shield, but it's just enough. He lunges forward onto his knees, finishing the circle in one smooth movement.

Asmodeus is trapped.

Asmodeus roars. He curses in Chthonian, so angry he’s practically incomprehensible. _“This will not hold me for long you insolent – unworthy--”_

Magnus tries to ignore him, flicking through the book to the page he needs. They have a few minutes at best. Alec joins him on the ground, still clutching his bow. “Need anything else to banish him?”

“He won’t be able to,” sneers Asmodeus. He is bound, but his magic still presses threateningly against the translucent barrier of the circle. “You’re not strong enough to do this, my _dear_ son, and you know it. You are too scared of your own power to do what needs to be done.”

“You can use my strength if you need it,” says Alec quietly. He offers his hand, palm up.

“How cruel of you to lead your little friends on, make them believe you are some kind of hero. Make them think that you could _save them_. Release me now and maybe I will not make their deaths as long and painful as they deserve.”

“I don’t know if it will be enough,” admits Magnus. He’s found the spell he remembers. The injustice of nature – all it took to release Asmodeus was a simple set of words, but to banish him will take everything Magnus has got. Even more.

“I know you can do it.” Alec’s unwavering certainty – perhaps that’s all he needs.

Magnus takes a deep breath. He takes Alec’s hand and pulls them both to their feet.

Asmodeus still looks furious, but there’s an edge of panic in his voice. “Magnus, I will not ask again. Release me, you stupid boy. I am the only one who is ever going to accept you for who you truly are. I am the only one who will ever truly care for you. Do not throw that away again.”

Magnus swallows. “Sorry, father. I guess I’m always going to disappoint you.”  

Asmodeus starts cursing once again, but Magnus closes his eyes and begins reciting the spell. He feels the pull of the book, drawing his energy and his magic for the ritual. Alec’s energy is bright and strong and flowing easily, but it’s not enough. The spell asks for too much.

_“You will never be accepted here. They will always fear you and shun you and I am the only--”_

Magnus reaches deep down into himself and unlocks the magic he never uses; the magic he’s been too scared to yield since the last time he banished his father. He wants to crawl out of his own skin at the feeling.

“ _Magnus you will regret this!_ ”

He feels the ground beneath his feet tremble, the city around them shaking from the force of the magic. Still, he chants on, the spell rising and rising in intensity.

_“I will not be returned to Edom by you--”_

At some point, Magnus stops being able to tell where the inherent magic of the book ends, and his own powers begin. The spell takes and takes and takes, hollows him out, burns in all his veins.

_“I will not!”_

The voice stops. His father must be gone.

“Magnus, you can stop now,” says a voice in his ear, slightly desperate. Large, wonderfully cool hands are cradling his face. “Magnus, stop.”

Stop? Why would Magnus ever want to stop this?

“Magnus, open your eyes.”

Magnus blinks his eyes open. Oh. There’s Alec.

“You can stop now,” says Alec. Funny, that’s exactly what the voice said. Maybe Magnus should stop. He’s getting very, very tired.

Magnus blinks slowly. Bit by bit, breath by breath, his magic calms down. The more it does, the more he comes back to his senses. He can see the empty circle, the circumference still smoking lightly; he can see Cat and Izzy sitting side by side, leaning back on a pillar, breathing heavily and battered but alive.

“Back with us?” asks Alec, smiling. 

“Yeah,” breathes out Magnus. He’s exhausted – too tired to even put the glamour back on his eyes. “Thank you, Alexander.”

Alec shakes his head. “I didn’t do anything.” He sweeps his thumb back and forth Magnus’ cheek and leans in closer. Magnus meets him halfway.

When their lips meet, Magnus loses himself again, but in the best way possible. He's hyper aware of all the places they're touching - the glorious press of their lips, Alec's hands near engulfing his face, his own hands resting his hands on Alec’s waist, the gentle brush of their noses and cheeks when they move with each other. 

“What did I miss?” Luke has clearly decided to join the party.

Magnus laughs into the kiss, a little hysterically. Alec starts laughing too and then before they know they’re giggling away like idiots, foreheads still pressed together. They’re allowed a little hysteria, Magnus thinks.

_They’re alive._

\---

After everyone gets over the shock of actually surviving, Magnus sends a fire message to Ragnor telling him that they have defused the situation and acquired both books. He also asks if Ragnor can kindly inform the warlocks of the Spiral Labyrinth they will not be receiving them considering their handling of the previous situation.

Ragnor doesn’t send one back, but Magnus can hear him sighing tiredly.

Magnus looks out at the mundanes of the city – still completely unaware of what could have been unleashed today. How their lives could have been transformed for the worse. 

Luke is overseeing the transfer of artefacts to the local museum. Since their client turned out to be less than a pleasant character they all agreed it was the best thing to do with what they have found. Cat left early, apologising profusely, but the “hospital really needs me there.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for,” Magnus had said, hugging her. “Go and save some more lives, Doctor.”

As for the Lightwoods…the Lightwoods are packing up to go home.

And Magnus is standing in the courtyard of the hotel furiously telling himself there’s nothing to be disappointed about. A kiss, it means nothing really. It was a ‘we almost died thank fuck we didn’t’ kind of thing. A ‘last hurrah since my parents want me to get married’ sort of deal.

Really, he’s hiding in the courtyard like the coward he is. He’s actually lucky Cat isn’t still around to scoff at him for it.

He just – he knows what rejection feels like. He doesn’t feel the need to experience it in person all over again, thank you very much. Alec is a good man. And that makes it worse, because Magnus has no doubts he’ll feel bad about it, about letting someone down. But Magnus understands, even after such a short time, what family means to Alec. How much worse Alec would feel if it was them he was to let down. 

Sighing, Magnus reaches a hand into his pocket and recoils immediately, his fingers stinging. More carefully this time, he pulls the thorny rose he received from the Seelie Queen out. He’s amazed he hadn’t managed to lose it in all the commotion, but it’s not unlikely that there’s some kind of enchantment on it.

“What is that?” asks Alec, from behind him. Magnus most certainly does not jump. Alec has a surprising knack for sneaking up on people. Another thing about him that Magnus finds devastatingly endearing.

Magnus tucks the rose back into his pocket and smiles up at Alec. “A reminder of what I owe someone.”

“Nothing awful,” he rushes to add when Alec’s face falls. “It’s really not that bad, honestly. I promise to explain it all, but only after least four drinks. And a long, hot bath. Oh, and a medium rare steak!”

Alec laughs quietly. “Good luck finding all that out here.”

Abruptly, Magnus remembers why he was out here moping in the first place. _Here_ , where Magnus is for – at least until he finds his next adventure. Alec’s home, wherever that may be, and his parent’s looming expectations. The heart-breaking fact there’s a world that exists outside the little bubble of their wild expedition, a world where they both have wildly different paths. “You should probably get back to packing, Alec.”

“What?” says Alec, startled. “Why would I do – what do you – I wasn’t packing.”

“What do you mean you aren’t packing?”

Slowly, Alec says “I mean I’m not packing. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“You aren’t?”

Alec scratches the back of his neck nervously. “We’re definitely not going home. The guys at the museum – they said Izzy could help them out with all the translations and identification stuff. And, well. I want to be out here. Out in the world, exploring. Not stuck with my parents.”

Magnus feels as though he’s in shock. “Oh,” is all he can say. Alec wants to stay here, Alec wants to explore, maybe Alec wants to -

“Actually, I was wondering, um. If you maybe wanted to get a drink sometime? As a. As a date.”

Magnus smiles so wide he feels his face might break. “I would love that.”

Alec looks painfully relieved. “Yeah? Good. That’s – good. Are you busy right now or --”

Magnus stops him with a finger to his lips. In all honesty, the drinks at the bar are lacking somewhat, the chairs creak unattractively, and someone is most certainly going to interrupt them. There are a thousand more romantic places Magnus could portal them to - but, if he's lucky, there will be plenty of time in the future for that. The world is his - _their_ oyster. 

“Now is perfect, Alexander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that's the end! hope u all enjoyed, see u for another au soon im sure


End file.
